Rockets Grounded…Loramie Shocks Anna On Game’s Last Play, 13-12!

Fort Loramie outplayed favored Anna and won on the game’s last play to deliver a dose of reality to area football…and hype the psyche of two teams whose seasons just took on a different context.

Anna, OH – Some will read the score on Saturday morning and question, “Did they get this right?”

Some will simply shrug and say, “That’s why they play the games.”

And it’s likely a lot of area football followers will simply say, “Can you believe that Fort Loramie (1-1) beat the Anna Rockets (1-1)?”

The correct response to all three would be yes.  They did report the score – Fort Loramie 13, Anna 12 – correctly.

And as Loramie coach Spencer Wells and Anna’s Nick Marino nodded agreement with, post-game…it is why they play the games.

And can you believe that Fort Loramie beat the much-written about Rockets on Friday night?  Believe it!

Trailing 12-7, and with the ball on the one yard line with 3.1 seconds to play, Loramie called a timeout and decided to give it to their biggest tailback Wyatt Holthaus on a direct snap.  Holthaus got to the line of scrimmage and felt hands and arms around his feet and legs.

“I just kept churning my legs,”  he said later.  “Just kept moving forward.”

Anna sold out, loaded the box with every available man, and it seemed they all had their moment to bring down Holthaus before he could break the plane of the goal line.  And it took a couple of seconds for the call.

But finally, the officials signaled touchdown setting off an explosion of emotion on the Loramie sideline and in the stands;  and a moment of dejection for Anna’s defensive front as it got to its feet and made its way to the handshake line.

Always…the handshake line, and when emotions are running the hottest.

“We needed a win,’  Spencer Wells added later.  “Boy, did we need a win.”

“They gave it to one of their big kids and we didn’t tackle him,”  said Nick Marino.  “You gotta’ run through his legs and bring him all the way down.  He stretched over the goal line.”

Literally, it was a play devoid of offense in the traditional balance.  Anna finished the game just under 200 yards, unofficially, and Loramie ended up with 274, and most of it on the ground.

The passing game was so out of whack that both quarterbacks left yards and points on the field by over and under-throwing receivers who stood wide open.

The respective defenses were a different matter.

Anna’s defense swarmed Loramie quarterback Tanner Heckman in the first half, sacking him three times, and causing three tunovers.

Loramie’s defense snuffed the space typically open for quarterback Logan Ziegenbusch, taking away running lanes and forcing him to throw high, or late to open receivers.

But Anna cracked the code on their second possession of the first quarter when Tyson Vaubel scored on a 24-yard TD pass from Ziegenbusch at 3:22 to put the Rockets first on the scoreboard, despite badly missing the extra point attempt…6-0!

In the second quarter a Logan Ziegenbusch interception set up a Loramie score when Tanner Heckman connected with a wide-open Tanner Eilerman at 5:05 for 35 yards and a score to put the Redskins ahead for the first time…7-6.

But on the ensuing kickoff Anna got a good runback…45 yards out over midfield where they set up shop on Loramie’s 46-yard line with momentum and field position.  Three minutes later Ziegenbusch found Kale Hoying open in the flat for a 17-yard score.  They flubbed the extra point try again, and led 12-6 at halftime.

The Rockets got the kickoff to start the second half and promptly went three-and-out.  Ziegenbusch could barely set one foot in front of the other on a pair of running attempts as Loramie stormed through the line…and Anna failed to block – anyone!

When Loramie got the ball back on a punt Spencer Wells rolled the dice with his running game – two parts Tanner Heckman to one part Wyatt Holthaus, and the ‘Skins began moving the ball downfield.  Still, Anna’s defense stiffened, shutting down Loramie at the 20 yard line where Heckman missed Tanner Eilerman on a fourth down and 13 pass attempt, and turned the ball over on downs.

Once again Anna’s offensive front proved feckless, unable to create running space for either Ziegenbusch or running backs TJ Roberts and Riley Brewer.  They punted again, because they had no choice.  In three second-half possessions the Rockets could muster just 12 plays from scrimmage.

Even after recovering a Holthaus fumble on their 40 yard line to stop Loramie penetration to start the fourth quarter, the offense stalled…Loramie’s defense pouring through the line to stop Ziegenbusch in his tracks.  They punted again, getting a good roll with the ball stopping on Loramie’s 9 yard line.

Frustration and fatigue were beginning to take their toll.  Heckman ran for a first down to the 19, barely getting the ball out of the shadow of his own end zone.  And with the clock steadily ticking down, moments later Heckman slipped through the line, broke a pair of tackles, and ripped off the long gain of the night by either team, 42 yards and a first down on the Anna 36 yard line.  Heckman would run for 82 yards, alone, in the second half.

At 2:00 left in the game Heckman and his offense came to the line with an air of expectation.  They were going to score with no time remaining…and Anna had used all of its time outs, even if they stopped the Redskins or recovered a turnover.  But there was none of either.

Heckman, Holthaus, and more Heckman.  Over and over…three yards, five yards, and a first down.  The clock dipped under a minute to go as Loramie crossed the ten yard line for a final first down.  Heckman ran it to the five with 35 seconds remaining.  Then Holthaus took it to the one with 3.1 seconds remaining on the clock.  Trailing 12-6 it was all or nothing.  A field goal was useless.  They had one play to win, or lose.

They lined up with Holthaus receiving the snap and went for it.  With hands and arms clutching at his legs and trying to get him off his feet, he kept moving forward. Finally the officials signaled…touchdown, as the clock expired.  Afterwards, Tanner Heckman put it all into context.

“We took things play by play,”  he said.  “We weren’t doing much offensively during the first three quarters of the game, but at the end we came through.  Right when we needed to, Wyatt Holthaus won us the game.”

And in his wildest dreams, Holthaus shook his head over holding Anna to less than 20 plays from scrimmage in the second half.

“We thought all week that we had a shot at these guys, even though people were saying they’d win by three scores,” Holthaus said. “We knew we could play with ’em.  And on that last play I was wrapped and I said hell with it and just dove.  And I got in.”

After the emotion wore off, Spencer Wells gave credit to all that his team had endured during their opening week against Minster, and to an Anna team that he called athletic and talented.

“The Minster game prepared us physically,”  he began.  “And Coach Marino has a heckuva’ program, and I don’t say this with any kind of disrespect.  They’re so athletic, but I thought we were more physical.  Minster prepared us very well, and we responded.  But if you ask our guys the message for tonight’s game was…one play at a time.  That’s how we beat Anna.  Don’t think about winning the game, the first half, or the first drive.  Just that first play, and then the next play, and then the next.

“There’s about 150 plays in a game, and every one of them matters.  And the fact that we won on the final play is just wild…how it worked out tonight.  But what a credit to our defense, our defensive staff – those guys did a heckuva’ job.  We tackled well, and we didn’t give up the big one.  And to do that against a guy like Ziegenbusch is a tall, tall task.”

Much has been said, and written about the Rockets as a legitimate threat to the MAC title in 2026, and even the Division VI title.  And could Ziegenbusch and Company be the second coming of Bart Bixler and Riley Huelskamp?

Could be, but at least for now put that thought aside as Nick Marino said in his post-game comments.

“We didn’t play a good football game, and they deserved to beat us.  And they did,” he said. “We have to execute a heckuva’ lot better than we did tonight.  They beat us, they outplayed us, and we didn’t make the plays we need to make to win the game.”

Things to think about.  Things to fix.  Anna plays Parkway next week.